


Friends Reunited

by mocksteven



Category: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Adventure, Family, Friendship, Gen, Mystery, Original Character(s), Time Shenanigans, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-05-25 08:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6187825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mocksteven/pseuds/mocksteven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven is a 16 year old boy that just wants a happy life and people that love him. He still remembers the dream he had at age 12 where he is taken away from his best friend, a Shinx. But soon, he gets sucked into the world of Pokemon and discovers his old and best friend was not a dream. But things have changed. (Being rewritten!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Amnesia

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Pokémon is owned by Nintendo and Game Freak. Not me.

_ Chapter 0   
Amnesia _

My eyes opened slowly as I woke from my slumber. I sat up in my bed and looked around the black room, as if searching for something. I pulled my legs from beneath the fabric that warmed me, keeping my eyes wide open. I stood up and walked to the door frame I remembered so well. Pausing just before it, I flipped the switch that hid so conspicuously by it. Artificial light burned my eyes.

As my eyes adjusted to the new found brightness, I began to take in the room I was in. The room was a calming mint green color that felt soothing to the eyes. In front of me was a medium sized bed with disheveled mint green covers, sheets, and pillows; two to be exact. In front of the bed was old wooden dresser drawer as wide as the bed. Beyond the bed was a window, allowing visual of the street below. To my right was a single mirror that hid in the corner of the room, standing as tall as me.

Ignoring the rest of the room, I walked over to the mirror. What greeted me was a young teen with a vacant look in his dull mint green eyes. He stood with a slight slouch leaving him at approximately four foot ten, but if he stood tall, he would just about reach five feet. His lips had dead and torn skin all over them from bad habits. His golden brown hair, messy from the bed, covered his ears and reached the back of his neck. He wore no shirt revealing is skinny, and malnourished stomach. Black and white speckled pajama pants were all he wore.

I stared at the reflection, feeling like I was gazing upon the reflection of a stranger. I knew it was me, yet I felt that it was not at the same time. The boy who stood before me was not the one who everyone once knew. This was the shell of a young boy who had been, at one point, bright with light and love.

Unable to bear looking at him any longer, I turned my attention instead, to the window. Beyond it, the morning sun could be seen, rising on the horizon. I felt my cheek become wet as a single tear slid down it.

A soft knock on the door interrupted my thoughts followed by the gentle voice of my step-mother. “Steven?” She asked, concern evident in her voice. “It's morning, will you come eat with the family please?”

I briefly recalled the person I had looked at in the mirror, and walked over to my drawer with out answering my step-mother. I pulled out a soft mint green shirt and slid it over my malnourished figure. Walking over to the door, I opened it revealing my shocked step-mother.

Her sleek black hair drifted gently over her shoulders, going no farther then the ends of her shoulders. She wore a black undershirt with a pink long sleeved shirt over it. Her black skin tight pants hugged her legs revealing nothing to prying eyes. Two sapphires stood transfixed on me in wonder.

“You actually came this time,” She said quietly before recovering herself and smiling warmly at me. “your father made Belgian Waffles for breakfast. Are you going to come eat with us?”

I nodded numbly at her, finding my voice to not be in working order. She held out her hand to me which I slowly took, allowing her to lead me. The house moved by in a blur until I found myself in front of a rectangular wooden table. The wood was dark and rich and chairs of the same kind of wood surrounded the table. Above the table was a small tainted glass chandelier. On each of the seats sat a family member. My brother Matt sat next to his twin sister Briana on the left side of the table, both smiling at me warmly. My father sat at the end of the table, his mint green eyes reflecting the warm smile of his mouth. My mother sat down next to him.

In front of me was a single chair, waiting for my presence. I sat down and beheld a single plate in front of me. The white plate held a single full waffle, taking up the entire plate. There was a slab of butter on each quadrant of the waffle melting in hot, homemade maple syrup. Next to the plate there was a single fork and a cup behind it containing milk.

The aroma of the food brought back some senses to me, but not much. I looked up at everyone else, seeing them all eating their own food, cutting their waffles with their forks. I brought my gaze back to the plate of food. I slowly began to follow their example, taking small bits of the food. But even as my taste buds were bombarded with the sweet waffle, my mind wandered.

_'Who am I?'_ I thought, my mind directed towards my dream of over a month ago. Each day my dream became hazier, leaving me grasping for straws. I felt a tear slid down my cheek as I silently asked, “Who am I?”

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

_I held out my blue paw towards the setting sun, smiling as I said, “Friends forever, right (the name was not heard)?” I turned to look at him._

_My valued partner's voice could not be heard, nor could I see him any longer. The land around me was hazy and unrecognizable. The sound of waves slowly faded from my ears before I was left with nothing but darkness._

_A single thought rang throughout the darkness as my vision faded. 'Who am I?_

_My vision returned to me and I was greeted with a mysterious creature. It had feline like proportions and was primarily light-blue and black. The back half of the body was black and held a swishing tail with a golden four-pointed star. The front half of it's body was light-blue and held a feline face with a look of concern. It had big round ears with yellow fur on the inside. It's mint green eyes reflected a kind and friendly soul._

“ _Are you okay?” He asked, but before I could answer, my vision faded once again._

_As my vision came back, another creature appeared before me. It was holding out green gecko-like paw. It had a red belly and a green body. It's face held reptilian futures as he too had mint green eyes. He held a smile as he said, “You alright Steven?”_

_I did not get to reply once again and soon my vision was gone. This time, I was greeted by nothing, instead, I held a small green gecko-like creature with mint green eyes. I was hugging it close to me as it looked at me with tears in its eyes._

“ _Do not worry, I'm here Treeko...” I said soothingly. The creature's eyes closed and he buried his face into my chest. “I'm here...”_

_Then it was gone and I returned to the darkness._

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

I woke to find myself in the bed of my darkened room. I did not move as I stared at the ceiling. I wondered about my most recent dream, wondering why those creatures appeared in it. My mind felt far too hazy so I willed myself to go back to sleep. But one thought was ringing pointlessly around in my head.

_'Who am I?'_


	2. Dreams, Memories, and Family

_"Pain is but a indicator of injury, both emotional, and physical. Death is a part of life that none can avoid. But it is because of these things that we can grow even more as a person." Steven Hill_

_Chapter 1  
_ _ Dreams, Memories, and Family _

Visions of strange creatures fighting for survival filled my dreams. Some perished, others lived, but blood was not seen. It seemed a huge war was taking place, but I could not tell who was on whose side. Then, I awoke.

Back in my room, I sat up in my bed. It had been awhile since I last dreamed of those strange creatures. I hadn't thought about those creatures in over a year. But I was not worried, stuff like this happened.

I got out of bed and put some clothes on, getting ready for the day. I went over to the mirror to check if it looked alright and found the reflection of myself staring back at me. I was much taller now, reaching about five foot seven. I was wearing a mint green shirt with a black Adidas jacket over it. Around my neck hung a thin gray and black scarf, complimenting the jacket. I wore black pants and mint green Adidas shoes, completing my outfit. This was my favorite set of clothes so I tended to wear it a lot.

I left my room, heading down the hall and into the living room. I spared the room no glance as I headed into the kitchen. I poured myself a bowl of Mini Wheats and sat down at the table to eat. Soon I was joined by Matt and Briana, who both ate a bowl of Chocolate Chex. No words were exchanged as we ate silently.

Although Matt and Briana were not my blood siblings, we still got along just fine. They both had blue eyes and black hair like their mother. But the similarities ended there. Their faces, unlike their mother's, were angular and sharp. Their mother's face was more round.

I rose to my feet, after finding that my bowl was now empty, and made my way to the kitchen sink. I washed my bowl, and put it away with the other bowls. Without greeting the Twins, I made my way back to the room. Once there, I sat on my bed with my legs hugged to my chest, staring blankly at the wall. This had become a habit of mine since the dreams from a year ago. It gave me a feeling of peace and clarity. But as always, my solitude did not last long as the Twins knocked on the door.

"Hey Steven," I heard Brianna ask through the door, "want to come play Tennis with us at one of the local courts?"

I never told them no as I knew I need to get out and get exercise so as to not lose muscle mass. So I removed myself from my fetal position on my bed and made my way to the door. I opened it to find Matt and Brianna's smiling faces, seeing them smiling at me always seemed to lift my spirits a tad. I smiled back at them and nodded.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

The green blur of a ball whizzed towards me as I prepared to return it. Stepping back a bit, I swung with little power, sending back at my two opponents. But my power was too much as the ball landed just beyond the line, giving my opponents the winning point.

I hunched over with my racket gasping for air as Matt and Brianna made there way over. I could hear them laughing and looked up at them with a unspoken question.

"My gosh Steven," Matt said, waving his arms as he did so. "You were like a freaking gazelle! You were all over the court! I'm surprised you were able to last so long against us!"

Brianna chuckled at her twin's antics and held a bottle of water out to me. "Come on, we don't need you getting dehydrated and passing out on us." I gladly accepted the bottle and took a drink of it as we made my way into the shade of a overhanging tree.

We all sat down in the shade, allowing our heart rates to slow. The atmosphere was peaceful and calming. There was a slight summer breeze that cooled me down as efficiently as the shade. These times were something I had come to enjoy over the past year. Just sitting down and enjoying time with my siblings.

"Hey guys, I got a riddle for you," Brianna said, causing me and Matt to look at her. "'A hundred feet in the air, I lie on my back.'"

I put my hand up to my chin in thought, quietly trying to figure it out. "Is it bigger then you?" I asked. She shook her head.

"Is it in motion?" Matt asked. She shook her head again. It went on like this for a long while, until I asked her to repeat the riddle.

"'A hundred feet in the air, I lie on my back.'"

Then it hit me, it wasn't something that _was_ a hundred feet in the air, it was something that _had_ a hundred feet in the air. Matt must have got it too as we both said, "A centipede!"

She smiled at us and we all got back up to continue playing Tennis. It's a shame I sucked at it.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

"Is it a boy or a girl?" The question was asked by my father as my step-mother laid on a hospital bed.

After many months, Mom had finally gotten pregnant in early January. We were all hopeful as this would mean Matt, Brianna, and I would have another sibling. This thought excited us all to no end. I had always wanted a younger sibling to take care of.

"I'm afraid it is to early to tell," The doctor kindly said to us. "but I can tell you this, there are two embryo's and that means you'll be having twins."

Matt, Brianna and I exchanged looks of excitement. We'd have _two_ new siblings! "That's wonderful!" My Dad exclaimed, clearly as excited as we were.

"Yes it is, now some things you should..." The Doctor's voice faded out as my mind began to go blank and my head started to hurt. I put my hand on the wall next to me for support as all my senses failed.

A flash of white and I found my self in a room similar to the one I was in before. Except my family was not present, and there was screaming. I looked down at the bed that had my step mother on it a moment before and found another woman screaming in pain clutching the hand of a man who looked similar to my father. The woman had a sheet over her legs and was clearly in labor. I adverted my eyes from the bloody sight before me until I heard the cry of an infant, no two infants.

I returned my gaze to the couple and found the woman and the man to be holding two bloody babies. The woman was breathing hard and in obvious pain, but anyone could see the pure joy in her eyes as so held one of the infants. The man held the same joy, cradling the other infant with a clear gentleness.

"What shall we call the two, darling?" The man asked.

"Let's call this little one Steven, because he will be a great leader for his sister and victorious in his battles." She said in admiration. As the woman spoke I noticed something about her that made my heart stop. She had shinning mint green eyes.

"You and your names, Wendi." The man laughed lightly. "And how about his sister?" He questioned, holding out the baby in his arms.

"We will call her Erika, for her noble nature and her powerful spirit." Wendi said smiling weakly.

The man shook his head, giving a 'your hopeless' look. "I'll never understand were you get these names, Wendi."

She smiled weakly at him before eyes closed and her grip on the baby now named Steven slackened. Before I knew what had happened, the infants were gone and the woman named Wendi was surrounded by doctors. A beeping noise accompanied her and the man was holding on to one of her hands with both of his, tears falling freely down his face. The area felt numb, with me watching the scene with the sound on mute. But one sound stayed, a soft beeping noise. The beeps quickened before becoming a long unending sound.

Another flash of white.

"...be sure to keep all of this in mind." The Doctor's voice returned, as if from a mist before becoming clear again. I found my self exactly where I was before with my hand against the wall. I looked around and saw that no one had noticed anything or even held any indication of seeing anything strange.

I thought on what I had seen, pondering why that woman's eyes had effected me so. Her eyes had been bright with life and color, but not just any color, a shinning mint green. Then there was the baby she had named Steven, that was my name. But there was also the other infant she had named Erika. They couldn't have been my family as I didn't have a biological sister. But why did it feel so real? Why was it that it felt real, and not just a fabrication of my mind?

Questions like these plagued my mind as we all made our way to the car to drive home. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn't even notice us arrive home, or even when I found myself on my bed in the dead of night. But one question remained on my mind as sleep took me away, _'Who exactly was that woman named Wendi?'_

_ *<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>* _

It was now late January, or more correctly, the 29th of January, my birthday. I usually tried to dissuade my dad from celebrating my birthday today as I know this is also the day my real mother died. But he would always bush it off, saying that she would have wanted him to celebrate today. I didn't argue as I was happy to know that he cared enough about me to give me a birthday at all.

I was just waking up from a unnerving dream about strange creatures again, when I heard knocking on the door. "Come in," I said. The door opened to reveal Matt and Brianna. Matt was holing a bed tray with a plate of waffles smothered in butter and hot syrup with whipped cream on top, topped even further with sugared strawberries. Brianna held two glasses in her hands, one contained a white creamy liquid I deduced to be milk, while the other held a frothy orange liquid I knew to be Orange juice.

"Happy birthday, Steven!" They both said as I sat up in bed. They brought over the food with Matt placing the tray over my legs and Brianna placing the glasses on the tray. I thanked them as the excused themselves to head back to the kitchen no doubt. I smiled and began to eat the food they had brought me, savoring very mouth full and drink.

When I had finished, I picked up the tray, balancing the glasses, and made my way to the kitchen in my bed clothes. I deposited the tray on the counter top and walked into the dinning room to find my family still eating. I didn't even get to say "good morning" before they all cheered, "Happy Birthday Steven!"

I smiled, unable to form a real response. I sat down in one of the chairs and tried start a conversation as they finished eating. "So, what are our plans for today, Dad?" I asked, genuinely curious.

He swallowed his mouthful of food before answering. "Well, I'm going to work as I wasn't able to get the day off, and your mother has errands to run. So it will be just you three." I felt slightly disappointed, but quickly cheered up at the thought of spending time with my twin siblings.

"Oh, Steven I know it's your birthday, but remember to get some homework done, alright?" My mother piped up. I had hoped that she would forget about school for just today, but I guess not.

"Alright." I sighed, knowing it to be futile to try and convince her otherwise. "So, no plans today then?"

"No plans." My father confirmed.

I sighed one last time before leaving the room and returning to my own. Once there, I changed into my usual attire of black and mint green clothing. Satisfied with my look I went and sat down on my bed. I stuck my hand under my bed and brought out a small silver notebook and pencil. I opened it up, revealing words detailing dreams. One of the entries detailed this:

_Last night's dream held the same content as all the others. Flashes of strange creatures that gave me a feeling of either sadness or happiness. But the one creature that would appear over and over again is a small blue and black feline-like creature. It has a tail shaped like a four-pointed star and yellow in color. Its ears are round with a four-pointed star pattern in them, the same color as the tail. But the detail I find to be the most odd, is that it's eyes are the same color as that woman's. A shining mint green. I tried searching up the creature and found nothing that resembled it. It's late so I'll be going to bed now._

I turned to an earlier page entry and read:

_Today, I will not be detailing another dream, I think... It seemed to be more of a illusion then anything. Anyways, while at the hospital today, we were checking to see if Mom was pregnant, she is, with twins. But that's beside the point, while the doctor was informing us what to look out for during mother's pregnancy, my senses basically vanished, leaving me in darkness. But my vision was soon after blinded by a flash of white light. When I-_

It went on to describe the event, and I still remembered every bit of it so I simply went back to the current page to fill in last night's dream.

_Last night's dream was much different then the rest. This dream, in all honesty, scared me. A new creature enveloped it, and the feelings it brought were only fear. This creature held a humanoid body structure, but did not touch the ground in the dream. It bore no legs bot it did have arms. It's body could only be described as a wispy, black spirit. Around its neck was blood red cloth that held a sort_ _of armor like appearance. It's head was covered in another wispy substance that was white in color, but it was more of a ghostly white. And then there were it's eyes, they were blue in color, but held what I could only perceive as malice. All in all, this dream was very disarming after all the other dreams. I hope I don't have dreams like that one in the future._

I sighed as I finished that last line, sincerely hoping it to be true.

"Whach'ya writing, Steven?"

I jumped at the sound, startled by the fact that the question came from right over my shoulder. I spun around on my bed to find Brianna smiling at me innocently and Matt smirking in the doorway.

"Dang it, Brianna!" I said, severely miffed. "Did you have to sneak up on me?!"

"Yes, yes I did!" She announced, seeming to be very proud of her actions. I grumbled in discontent as Matt spoke up.

"So, ignoring Brianna's _shenanigans_ , we really came her to find out what you'd like to do today." He said, a smile present on his face.

I chuckled at his use of the word shenanigans, feeling my anger subside. "Well, how about we get some homework done first and then I'll answer that?" I proposed.

"Right now?" Brianna whined, draping herself on my bed. "But I wanna play..."

"Oh get over it Brianna," Matt sighed, coming over to join us on my bed. "Mom already told Steven that he should get some homework done, and I'm pretty sure she was talking to us as well."

Brianna sighed before answering, "Oh, alright then..."

I smiled at the two of them before saying, "Then I guess we are all agreed then, homework it is!

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

My birthday ended, as did many more days, as Mom's due date approached. Summer went by like it was nothing, with me having even fewer dreams about strange creatures. As the days passed on with my fourteen year old self, things began to change. Every change was subtle, barely noticeable, but they were there, little things like switching out furniture or having slightly less food. But they would begin to escalate over time. I am reminded of many books and movies talking about how humans fear change, how they fear giving things up. But as I look at the subtle changes, I realize that soon, I won't have all these wonderful people in my life. And it _scares_ me.

But I did come out of the shell I had been in, thanks to my family and was able to see my best friend again. We got along well in the summer, goofing off, playing random games with each other. We enjoyed it, but problems in his family began to affect him, giving him pain. He never showed it, but I could see it. He was a sociable person, one that everyone seemed to love, and I knew he liked spending times with lots of people, and yet, he always came to play with me. He was a cherished friend that I was glad to have.

Finally, in the month of September, my mother's due date arrived. She had been feeling sick for awhile now, and we were worried about her. So we took her to the hospital and the doctors took to examining her. We waited, but then my mother went into labor. We all went to attend, to watch mother only Dad was allowed in. So we watched silently from the window.

Dad held on to her hand, as she tried to demolish his. Mother was in clear pain, but we all knew it would be hard for her, just not how hard it would be for all of us. And all of the sudden, time stopped. They produced a baby from under the cloth on Mother's legs. But it was not crying, it was silent. They gave the baby to our Mother and Father saying something that we could not hear. But we did not have to hear, only see. Mom and Dad had begun to cry, holding what we knew to be our new brother. But he did not move, for he couldn't, what our mother held in her arms was not alive.

A doctor opened the door and let us in. We walked to our parents knowing full well that our new brother was dead. I felt pain in my heart, but I also felt numb. I could not cry, I could only stand and stare as the rest of my family mourned the loss of our new family member. And then I broke. Tears fell down my cheeks as I hugged my family.

On September 11, 2013, Jacob Antoinette Hill had been born and died. And his twin had never been born, for her embryo had perished long ago. It was then that I realized, that this was the beginning of the end of my childhood. And change was unstoppable.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

Time passed, healing the wounds of loosing Jacob and his twin. The cause of death was identified as Beta Strep B. Mother had been born with it and it had finally struck. Mother had been spared from this disease's onslaught because she was immune to it's effects. We later found out that though Mother has Blood Type O she can not donate because her blood is poisonous to everyone but her. She is immune to most diseases as well. But despite all this new information, time was slow to heal Mother's wound, for she had been scarred, and would always hold this pain.

But time passed for all, and the summer of the following year arrived all too soon. My age now being fifteenth, I became more mature. I knew that as beautiful as this world was, it was as kind as it was cruel. I had become more fit as time passed, using physical labor to distract myself from the pain. But with the pain now gone, and me being in a habit of working out, cleaning, or earning money, I continued with my new found habits.

Mother had gone back to being her old self now, but any mention of someone losing their child, and she would break down in tears. Father was obviously hurt, but I could tell he was staying strong for her. Brianna and Matt spent time on increasing there education using learning to distract themselves. They planned to become technicians or game makers one day.

My dream journal had continued, with me having formed a whole world with the dreams in the book. I had detailed so many creatures and had found a name for all of them in the dreams, Pokémon. But the dreams had stopped, and the journal was full. And today was the day, I showed it to my Brother and Sister.

I got up from my bed, grabbing the silver journal, and made my way through the open doorway. I proceeded to the twins' room door. Finding the door closed, I knocked. It was answered after a moment of sounds of things be moved around. Brianna opened the door, smiling as she saw me.

"What is it Steven?" She asked, her face showing her curiosity as she noticed the journal in my hand. "And why do you have your journal? You never take that out of your room."

I answered with a smile on my face, "Well, I think today is the day I tell you and Matt what is _really_ in this book."

Her face showed unshielded surprise as she said, "Oh, um, come in then."

I followed her in to find a room unlike what I had ever been expecting. In the center of the room was a table holding all sorts of gadgets and nicknacks. There were two laptops on the table among the chaos, each having a black screen with codes running down them. The window on the side of the room was mostly covered with a sheet, blocking out most of the light in the room. In the back of the room stood a bunk bed. The sheets were falling off the bottom bed while the top had none at all. Next to the door I had come through was a closet with sliding mirrors for doors.

"What have you two been doing in here?" I asked incredulously, believing Matt to be somewhere in the room.

"Oh hello!" Matt announced, popping out from behind the table. He then came over and began shaking my hand saying, "Nice to meet you!"

"Um, Matt?" I asked, wondering why he was not only acting like he had never met me, but also why he was acting much weirder then normal, if you could ever consider him "normal". "Brianna? What's wrong with Matt?"

"Oh, lovely Brianna!" Matt suddenly said, as if seeing her there for the first time. "How lovely that you came to see me! So lovely!"

"Yeah, we've been trying to make a Virtual Reality Head Gear for the last year," She said giving her brother a sympathetic look as walked back to behind the table. "And while we were testing, Matt's head got fried a bit."

"A bit?" I asked incredulously, feeling slightly panic. "He doesn't even recognize me! And what the heck is a Virtual Reality Head Gear?"

"Calm down, Steven!" She demanded, putting her hands on my shoulders. "Everything's fine! He'll be back to normal in just a few minutes!"

I forced my self to calm down for Brianna before I re-asked my previous question, trying to focus one thing at a time. "What is a Virtual Reality Head Gear?"

Her body visibly relaxed as she said, "Seeing as you don't watch anime, it's not surprising that you don't know what it is. Anyways, imagine going to sleep and being able interact with a whole other world as if you were there in person. Now imagine being able to go into a video game and physically interact with the characters there as yourself. That is what this Virtual Reality Head Gear is for."

I could only stand there and stare. I'd never heard of this being possible, but if my brother and sister could do it... "Um, what about Matt?" I asked, worried that he wasn't going to be okay, despite Brianna's assurances.

"What about me?" I heard him ask, and turned around to see him standing up from behind the table with one hand on his head.

"Looks like your feeling better," Brianna said, smirking like she'd just kicked someone's butt. "Steven's here to show us something, so I hope you can listen."

"Brianna," He sighed, still clutching his head with one hand. "Just get me some Tylenol please."

She gave a mock bow saying, "As you wish, my liege." before leaving the room.

I turned back to Matt to find him now sitting, no collapsing onto the bottom bunk of the bunk beds. I walked over and sat on the bed with him seeing him clutching his head still, and groaning. "So are-"

"Shh!" He cut me off, putting a finger to his lips. I did as he said, and stayed quiet, realizing immediately that noises were hurting his head now. I waited for about two more minutes until Brianna walked back in. I only gave her a small glance as she gave Matt a cup of water and two white pills. He sat up to take them, and soon as he had gulped down the water and the pills, he returned the cup to Brianna and collapsed back on to the bed.

"He just needs a bit of rest now." Brianna whispered, as she sat down by me, watching her brother. I stayed silent as Matt rested, apparently he had already conked out. I looked down at the silver journal in my hands, feeling as though I was about to give up a part of me. I shook my head knowing full well that it wasn't wise to get close to inanimate objects.

About an hour later, Matt woke up to Brianna and I playing a game of Speed on the floor. We got bored of waiting for him to wake up, and both decided to play a card game. Brianna had also decided that Matt should be awake for when I divulge the journal's secrets. We played Kings Corner, Rat Slap, and Mau, before finally settling on Speed. I hated Rat Slap, because as the name implies, you slap your hand down on a the cards in front of you to get the deck. The objective of the game was to be the one with the entire deck in your hands. But because I was usually faster than Brianna at slapping the deck, my hands were red from being slapped by Brianna.

We ended our game of Speed quickly, with me losing to Brianna with one card left in my hand. As much as it annoyed me to lose when I was so close to victory, I knew there were more important things to deal with at the moment. I looked over to Matt, seeing him look tiredly at us.

"Hey Matt," I asked, curious of his current condition. "How are you doing?"

"Huh," He said, looking at me dumbly for a second before his mind began to work. "Oh! I'm doing fine now."

"Good," Brianna cut in, sounding proud of her recent victory over me. "Then we can both find out exactly what Steven came in here for."

They both looked at me, obviously expecting an answer. I drew in a breath and prepared to tell what I had been holding in for so long. "Okay, so do you guys remember a few years back when I went into a slight coma like state?"

"How could we forget Steven?" Brianna said looking a bit saddened by the subject. "You were like a zombie. You barely ate, you almost didn't communicate, and when we had you examined, you were perfectly fine. We couldn't find out what was wrong with you!"

Matt cut in at this point, asking, "So what does that time have to do with this?"

"Everything." I replied, giving them both a meaningful look. I then held up the silver journal so they could both see it. "What I have in this journal details many of the dreams I've had since that time. The reason why I was in such a state was because at the time, I felt that they were real. I was depressed. Everything that had happened in those dreams felt so real, I _knew_ they must be real, I couldn't deny it. And that's what made it so much worse, because at the end of that dream, I left someone, someone incredibly dear to me. And as I left, I could _feel_ the pain I both of our hearts at leaving each other."

Brianna and Matt were still listening intently, hanging on to every word like it was their lifeline. I continued, "But as time went on, those dreams began to fade. I can no longer remember who that precious person was. So I wrote in this journal, every strange dream that I had since then, feeling that I should not let myself forget. Sometimes though, I feel as though they are not dreams, but memories. So I am giving you guys this journal."

"Why though?" Brianna asked, seeming to have woken from a stupor.

"Because I need your guys help," I said, giving them a pleading look. "I don't understand why these dreams have felt so real or why I keep having them. I need your guys help to figure out why."

They both looked at each other, for a moment then back to me. "Can I have a look at the journal, Steven?" Matt asked. I obliged and handed the journal over to him. He looked through a few of the pages before he handed it over to Brianna, holding a blank face. She did the same, before looking up at me, her face as blank as her brother's.

"Steven, all the pages are blank." Brianna said, her face unreadable.

"What?" I asked in disbelief as I grabbed the book from her hands and rifled through the pages. They were all blank except for a page at the very end. On the center of the page were seven words that sent chills deep into my soul.

_YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE INVOLVED THEM, STEVEN._

_ *<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>* _

Later that night, I lay in my bed wondering how all those dreams that I had recorded had disappeared. But more then that, where those words had come from. There's no way some one could just erase years worth of words and replace them with only five. It just didn't make any sense and I was very scared.

After reading those words in the twins's room, I had quickly apologized for wasting there time and left, locking myself in my room. I had looked at the journal over and over again, but the same haunting words were still there. It wasn't long before I could stay awake no longer and fell asleep still worried about the words.

_I found myself walking with Brianna and Matt down a road in Redding. We were simply enjoying the cool spring air, happy for a bit of relaxation away from school. We walked by a building that some workers were current working on. A loud yell from above caused us too look up. A cable that had been holding many metal beams snapped sending them all down at us. I felt someone shove me followed by a huge crash as I landed on the ground._

_I quickly got up and looked in front of me. What I saw made my blood run cold. There were metal beams all over the place I had just been, but that's not what made my blood run cold. Matt was in the center of it with a beam through his chest, blood was pooling down his legs on to the ground below. Brianna was underneath a large quantity of them. A beam had landed on her back and snapped her spine in two._

I woke up gasping breath, as I took in my surroundings. I was in my room, on my bed, and it was morning, so it must have been a nightmare. I then grabbed the dream journal and a pencil preparing to write in the most recent dream. But as I opened the journal, I found only empty pages. It looked like yesterday had not been a dream. I turned to the last page to find the message again, except, there was a new message underneath it.

_THIS WILL BE YOUR PUNISHMENT._

I was scared, very scared. Just what was mad at me? And what had I done wrong? But then I read the message again. It didn't specify what my punishment was, it just said ' _THIS_ '. I then remembered my nightmare, and how I had been about to write about it before seeing that message. Did this mean that I was going to lose my brother and sister?

I felt like crying. _"What have I done to deserve this pain? Nothing!"_ I thought bitterly, tears brimming in my eyes. _"I won't let that nightmare happen, no matter what!"_ With that firm thought in my head, I rose from bed to get ready for the day.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*


	3. Descent

“ _ **Family is always important. Without it, we are nothing. So sometimes, love will triumph and fate will fail. Futures will be extended, and the family will never truly die.” Steven Hill**_

_ Chapter 2   
Descent _

For the next few months of Summer, Matt and Brianna never approached me about the journal, or what I'd talked about in their room. And for that, I was grateful. The words on the journal remained as a terrifying reminder of what was to come. I didn't know when it would happen, but I always stayed alert when with the twins.

As summer ended, my 10th year of school commenced. But thanks to me being in a home school, I never had to worry about getting to school every day. But I did still have classes I had to take at the home school. The twins and I were never in the same class due to them being two grades above me. They were both eighteen after all.

Classes were hard, in a way, though they'd probably all be a piece of cake if I'd just do my homework. I was constantly pissing Mom off by not doing the homework, as well as myself. I could probably be a straight A student if I'd just do the homework. But that seemed to be my life now during this school year, choosing to do my homework.

At home I began to make my dreams into a work of fiction, writing them up on a computer I got from Mom and Dad. I tried writing in the journal asking, _Who are you?_ But no answer came unfortunately. Whenever I tried forgetting about the journal, I would find it there beside my bed with those two haunting sentences still there, written in lead pencil. But life goes on I suppose...

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

I woke with a jolt after feeling like I was falling off the bed, only to find I was still in the center of my bed. I grabbed my had-me-down iPhone from beside my bed and checked the time to find it was six in the morning. I groaned as I collapsed back into bed. It was a Saturday morning in the middle of November and I wanted all the sleep I could get.

But it seemed the universe was determined to keep me awake as in the next moment my journal began to glow. I was wide awake in a instant as I quickly snatched up my journal and opened it up to the page that was glowing, which just so happened to be the first page. I was temporarily blinded I looked at the page, but my vision rapidly returned as I began to witness a very interesting sight. Words were appearing on the page as if they were being written, in _my_ handwriting. It read:

_'Why'd you have to leave me, Steven?_ _It's been almost six years since you died...'_ I stopped momentarily in shock at seeing these words, but pushed those thoughts aside and quickly went back to reading. _'I know we had to save the world and all, but why couldn't the Legendaries save you? No, I've got to stop thinking like this. It'll only bring me more pain... I've got to keep moving forward, because that's what yo would have wanted... You told me I was more important to you than anything else, so why... Are you gone?'_

The words halted for a moment, giving me a chance to reflect on what I'd just read. Usually I'd be wondering how words were appearing on my journal, but ever since haunting messages with the twins, I felt almost nothing would surprise me now. I had questions, most of which ranged from, “Why am I dead?” and, “Who is this?” But then the words began appearing again.

_'Dang it... Now I'm crying again... I always cry when I think about him...'_ The words stopped and a strange sound began to resonate from the journal. It took me a minute, but I eventually recognized it as the sound of someone humming. And then words began to appear on the journal, accompanying the humming.

_'Oh my friend, it has been so long._

_And the pain has yet to vanish!_

_But I still, remember your final words,_

_On the day you died._

“ _Don't give up!_

_Never forget, the adventures we shared together!_

_You were my, one and only true friend,_

_And you are more precious to me then anyone else!”_

_I'm still here, staying alive just for you!_

_Remembering to be cheerful!_

_But when the burdens, and the pain, become to much to bear,_

_I remember your final words to me!_

“ _Don't give up!_

_Never forget, the adventures we shared together!_

_You were my, one and only true friend,_

_And you are more precious to me then anyone else!”'_

The humming halted, replaced by quiet whimpering. I felt a yearning to comfort the owner of the voice so I picked up the pencil that accompanied the journal at all times and wrote the following words: ' _It's alright.'_ The whimpering halted and then the journal's glow dimmed and disappeared, leaving me in the morning darkness of my room.

I did nothing as I contemplated what I had seen and heard. My mind seemed to have slowed down and I felt a certain sadness overtake me. Tears began to flow freely down my face with me feeling the crushing weight of sadness. I didn't know where the feelings came from, or even why. I could only guess they came from whose ever voice was in the journal.

And then the sadness disappeared, leaving my tears to dry on my cheek and shirt. I put the journal and pencil back, before smashing my face into the pillows on my bed. I moaned into my pillow mask as I wiped the still wet tears onto the surface of the pillows. Weird things kept happening to me and I didn't know why. I lied back down on my bed and closed my eyes, contemplating what had just happened.

It wasn't until I heard knocking on my door did I realize I'd fallen back to sleep. I groggily called for whoever it was to come in. As the door opened I realized how weak and drained I felt. I didn't understand it all that much as yesterday was a fairly lazy day. But I pushed the thoughts out of my head as I sat up to greet my morning visitor.

I looked a the visitor through my blurred vision trying to make out who it was. My vision slowly cleared to reveal a Mother with a look of concern in her eyes, but her body language said otherwise. My Mom's arms were crossed and she was leaning against the door watching me.

“It is six in the afternoon, Steven.” She said her voice showing that she was indeed concerned. “Have you honestly been sleeping this whole time?”

“'Six in the afternoon'?” I repeated, slowly realizing what she said.

“Given your expression, I can safely assume that I was right in thinking you've been sleeping all day.” She said, sighing soon after. I said nothing, being unable to figure out _what_ to say. She walked over to me and knelt by my bed. I soon after felt her cool hand on my forehead as she look at my with motherly concern.

“I would have said you were running a fever, but you are far to sweaty to have one.” She mumbled before she brought me into a hug. “I'm going to have your father look at you when he gets home in a hour. Until then I'll bring you some water, try not to fall back to sleep. Okay?” She told me kindly, with her gentle smile.

I nodded my head at her and she got up and headed out the door. As I waited, I felt the longing urge to fall back to sleep get stronger. But before I could succumbed, Mom returned with a glass of water in hand. She handed me the glass, telling me to drink it. I did as she said and let the cool liquid slide down my throat as I slowly drank from the glass. I felt coldness seep into my chest as I gave the glass back to mother.

“Can I please go back to bed Mom?” I asked, still feeling drained and tired.

“Yeah, you can, it's probably for the better.” She replied with a sigh, sounding defeated. I paid her no more attention as a laid immediately back down on the bed. “Though I wish you wou-” her voice faded away, and so did everything else. Leaving me in darkness.

A beam of light appeared, demolishing the darkness and leaving me blinded.

I found myself surround by stones and figures in black on a bright spring day. The weather was pleasant and the sun was warm, but the atmosphere spoke of another story. I gazed at the people around me, seeing men walking in suits with black ties and women gazing tiredly at one another whilst wearing dresses of black.

I was concerned as to why everyone would wear black on a hick until I realized the stones were grave makers. It connected and I realized these people were mourning someone's death. But who's death?

I maneuvered my way through the people without touching anyone and began to see some familiar face. My grandparents from my father's side, my cousins, my aunts and uncles. And then I saw my family. I walked over to them only to find that my father and brother, were no where to be found. In front of me was my mother cradling a crying Brianna. They were both standing in front of a pit a knew to be a grave. Before I could ask them any questions music began playing and everyone looked down at a black van that had just pulled up.

Out of the car came my father, Matt, one of my uncles and my closest cousin. They all went to the Back of the van and opened it up. My uncle and father began pulling out what I knew to be the coffin. Before it could come all the way out and fall to the ground, my cousin and Matt grabbed the end, and they all began to slowly march in my direction.

I could see that Matt had just finished crying by his red eyes. And it looks like my father had been crying as well. My cousin held a straight face, but I could see pain in his eyes. My uncle held nothing, but his own poker face.

They had made it to me and they began the process of lowering the casket. Brianna was the first to throw a flower in with the casket. She was followed by Mom and then everyone else attending. I felt I should have thrown one in, but I couldn't get a flower so I just stayed with my now complete family.

“He saved our lives...” Matt said, looking deeply saddened. “He saved Brianna and me...” This made me even more curious. Who saved they're lives?

“He sacrificed himself for us Mom...” Brianna whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear.

There was silence between the family, I got tired of not knowing so I just asked. “Is anyone going to tell me who died?”

No one moved, or did anything for that matter. And then my mother reached into her purse pulling out my silver journal. “I took this from his room before we left, I felt that having it might help us get through this.” She said holding the book out to the Twins. It didn't take me long to realize that I was the one who had died. But I didn't let that bother me yet as I was still with my family, and I was going to spend what time I could with them, even if they couldn't tell I was there.

“Wait, I remember Steven tried to show us the book one time, before but I don't know what happened after that.” Matt said taking the journal and opening it up. One the first page there was the lyrics from last night.

“I didn't know Steven wrote music.” Brianna said looking over Matt's shoulder while Mom and Dad just sat across from them, listening.

“Me neither.” Matt replied, flipping the journal to it's last page. “Huh, that's odd.”

“'You should not have involved them, Steven.'” Brianna read aloud. “That is odd, and right under it: 'This will be your punishment.' What will be his punishment?”

“Alright that's enough you two, let's head home, you'll feel better there.” Dad said, breaking up their conversation.

“Let's keep this from Mom and Dad for now.” Matt whispered, loud enough for Brianna and I to hear, but no one else. She nodded and my vision was whited out.

“-ld wait for your Father.” I heard Mom Saying as I came too. I jolted up and swung my head to look at her. She was a little startled but she said, “I guess your not tired then.”

“Mom, I want you to know that I love you.” I told her with dead seriousness.

“Well I love you too, darling.” She responded smiling at me. I smiled back, hiding the feeling in my gut. “Well I'm going to go wait for your father to get home, is that alright?” I nodded. She smiled at me as she got up and left the room.

I lunged for my journal and pencil and grabbed them before pulling them back with me onto the bed. I opened to the first page to see the lyrics. I then flipped to the immediate next page and began writing.

_'Dear Matt and Brianna,_

_It's currently the 15 th of November and I just found out I am going to die. How, I don't know, but it will be saving your lives. I also realized that I seem to have the ability to see into the future and maybe the past. That is how I figured this out. _

_Since you two will later find out about this journal, especially after I die, want to help you two understand. I'm sure you you guys never truly forgot about when I went into that depression, so I need you to recall that because it is especially important. I also need two to not let mother and father know yet. Because what ever invaded my journal, it's probably the reason I die. It is more then likely very dangerous._

_Finally, I'll need you guys to try give me as much information about my death as you can. You can do so by talking about me death in my room. Make sure to continuously touch an object in my room. This may not seem like much, but I'll explain more on another page. Now go do those this as soon as you get home from my funeral._

I let out a deep sigh and laid back as I reflected on all my dreams and of my recent vision. I had reason to believe that I had a ability from the dreams that allowed me to see both the past and future through contact with certain objects. I remembered the vision from the hospital being sudden and unexplained as I just began to have a headache. But as I thought about it, I remembered absently touching the bed rail before I felt that headache. The only problem was the vision itself. Something told me it was apart of my past, but I know I don't have a sister and Dad said my real mother had only me before she died. So why did no one remember Erika?

Then there was the most recent vision were I saw my funeral, this vision happened after my mother felt my head for a fever. I also remember in the dreams, the gray creature called Dusknoir had said that the ability needed a trusted partner. Both instances checked out as I had my trusted family with me. This Dusknoir had also given the ability a name. The Dimensional Scream.

I turned to the next page of the journal and wrote down all I could about the Dimensional Scream. Before I could write anymore though, I heard the sound of the front door opening. I quickly shut the journal and hid it under my pillow, I didn't want anyone reading it yet. Moments later, Dad walked in with my mother. He put his hand to my forehead, and I saw his face go from one of worry, to one of relief.

“It's alright, Rebecca.” My Dad announced, turning to smile at Mom. “He's not sick, just exhausted. He just needs some sleep.”

Her face took one of relief before asking a very important question. “How were you able to tell that just by feeling his forehead?”

He simply smiles wider and says with confidence, “Dad skills.”

Before mother could protest, I broke into their conversation. “I'm sure Dad is right, Mom. I don't feel sick, just _really_ tired.”

“See?” He said gesturing towards me. “Even he agrees with me.”

My mother smiles devilishly before grabbing my father's arm. “ _Well_ , if he's just _tired_ then we should let him _sleep._ ” She said proceeding to start dragging him out of the room.

My father shoots me a pleading look, but I smile at him and say, “Thanks Mom.” I see her triumphant smile and my Dad's horrified face before they disappear behind my door, leaving me to sleep. I didn't bother bringing the journal back out, I _was_ tired and I wanted this day to end. I wasted no more time and let sleep take me. I was out in seconds.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

Days passed with me writing everything I could in the journal. I had a few more visions at school, but they were just drama going on in fellow student lives, in the past and future. I learned after a few times of it being used that if I touch someone and have a vision, it's something that happens or happened in their past or future. But it's not necessarily always about them. When I touch an object and have a vision, it usually has something to with the area that it's in. I was slowly developing that habit of calling them screams and not visions, but it was slow going.

No one has attempted to read the journal, nor even gave it a second glance, confirming my suspicion that someone had tampered with my siblings memories. I knew them well enough that they wouldn't let something like what happened in their room just blow over there heads. This only proceeded to anger me as it meant someone was messing with my family.

Christmas break had just started and I decided that my real presents to my family would be letters for each of them individually. I started with Matt, giving him a casual “Marry Christmas” to start it off. I proceeded with his letter, telling him how much his friendship towards me had meant, how much I will miss him, and so on. At the end, I left on simple, but clear massage in both his and Brianna's letters. ' _Read the journal._ '

I made the rest of the letters as heartfelt as possible after that. I then moved my dresser drawer aside to reveal the wall. Then one by one, I pinned four envelops to the wall. Each envelope held a name of my family member on them. And each envelope held a letter to that family member.

Christmas finally arrived with much joy and cheer that even my own approaching death couldn't deter the joy I felt being there and enjoying opening presents from each other. We had a tradition where we would have one of us open a present and then the next person would open theirs. This made Christmas last longer for us, so we enjoyed it.

It was currently my turn, and I was opening a present from Matt. I carefully took off the wrapping paper, so as to not rip it. I found a cardboard box underneath the colorful paper and began opening that. What I found made me laugh for a good long while. Matt was sitting across from me smiling like the idiot he was.

“PooPourri?” I asked incredulously as I held up a bottle of fragrant spray.

“Yup, for all of those stinky potty breaks of yours!” He laughed while I stood there dumbfounded. In response to my silence, he got up and walked over to me holding out his arms in a invasion for a hug. I smiled despite myself, and got up and brought him in a bone-crushing hug. We laughed after the hug before sitting back down.

I felt a bit dizzy, but I didn't let that bother me as I was having much too much fun. And then I was blinded by a bright white light.

“You saved us and now you're dead.” It was Matt's voice I heard before I got my vision. When I got my vision, back I found myself in a very empty room I recognized as the Twins.

“Brianna, I don't want to do this anymore,” Matt said, desperation and sadness laced together in his voice. “It hurts enough remembering that moment, but telling it over and over?”

“Just a bit longer, he said that he would be listening today at around 5:34 pm.” Brianna said looking up at Matt from her sitting place on the bottom bunk of their bed. Matt was standing in the center of the room looking like he was preaching to a choir. I saw a calender on their wall and saw that it was May 3. “And speak of the- it's 5:34 now!”

“Then he's probably here now.” Mat said going from exhausted and depressed to excited. “Okay Steven, since you are probably listening now I'm going to tell you how you died.” He let loose a deep sigh as he prepared himself. “On April 17 you were run through the chest by a falling metal beam. Originally it was me and Brianna who were under that beam, but you jumped forward and shoved us both out of the way. Unfortunately the momentum you used to send us out of harms way, sent you into it. The beam ran straight through your back, impaling itself into the ground.”

He let out a deep shuddering breath. “W-we didn't know if you had died, but soon after you were c-consumed by light and disappeared in front of us. The place where you were was immediately magically set alight. The flame was intense enough that if you had been in there, you would have been r-reduced to ashes.”

“That's all we know about what happened. We didn't tell anyone else about you turning into light.” He finished before sitting down next to Brianna and crying.

Brianna got up soon after and said, “I suppose it's my turn. Well we have a question. If your still alive after all of what happened, do you know what might have happened to you?”

And with that final question, I was once again blinded by a bright white light and found myself again on the couch in the living room with everyone laughing around me. I then realized they were all still laughing about my PooPourri. Not wanting to forget about what Brianna had said I dismissed myself to go to the bathroom taking to PooPourri with me. I ran up the stairs to the second floor of the house and turned towards my room. I ran in there and grabbed the journal and then rushed into the nearby bathroom. I shut and looked the door and plopped my self on the toilet and began writing.

_'On May 3 at around 5:34 pm I need Matt to tell me about my death and soon after I need Brianna to ask a question you guys have. DO NOT GO TO THE NEXT PAGE UNTIL THIS IS DONE!!'_

Not wanting to raise suspicion from my family members I decided to actually go to the bathroom. I grabbed the PooPourri and did as it said, spaying 6 squirts of it into the toilet's water. I then proceeded to sit down and actually go to the bathroom while writing.

_'Thank you for that Matt, I'm sorry you had to relive that moment. As for your guys question, I have a small idea of what could have happened to me. The this idea can quickly be cast aside. Anyways here it is. In one of my many dreams I being erased from existence and the light was my soul splitting apart. The only other time I can remember something like that happening in the dreams is very vague. In that one, all I can remember is that I was hurt and a blinding white light. I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help with your question. But if I am still alive after that, I will try to contact you two.'_

I sighed and closed the journal and flushed the toilet. As I was about to leave the bathroom my passing thought was, _“It smells nice in here now.”_

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

Christmas ended and so did my birthday, bringing me ever closer to my death at an age of 16. I didn't want to worry my family so I went on with life as if nothing was wrong, and that included doing my homework. But even with time passing and my death coming closer, my thoughts were clouded only with worry for my family. I had been adding to my family's letters behind the dresser, giving them more to read, more to remember me by.

I kept track of the date, counting down the days till April 17. It may have been February, but I felt I still had so much to do before I died. And I knew I couldn't try to escape my death, because if I did, Matt and Brianna would pay the price. And I wasn't about to be stupid and try to change fate by telling my family what was going to happen. They would either not believe me, or something worse would happen instead.

I made food for may family every morning giving them a good meal to start there days off and was constantly helping prepare dinner with mother or father. The house stayed relatively clean under my watchful eye, but I didn't have to try to hard for that. I was always there to help anyone who needed help in the house, making myself as useful to them all as much as possible. I was able to maintain my grades throughout this endeavor as well. I was happy to be there for my family.

April arrived all too soon and I made preparations for that day. I wrote everything I could in the journal, giving Matt and Brianna as much help as possible. And then the morning of April 17 arrived.

I woke up, feeling the dread in my heart. I pushed aside my feelings and began to write in my journal for the final time.

_'Hey guys, looks like its time, today I die. I can't say I'm not scared, because I am very afraid. But I know that with my death, you two can survive, so it's okay. I may be human, but I'm going to make sure I am the most extraordinary human you two ever knew. It's been a fantastic life and have enjoyed being your guys' brother. You two look after Mom and Dad for me. There going to need comfort, especially Mom. She may not be my birth mother, but I love her the same never the less. Don't forget to read you guys' letters, okay? Well it's time for me to go now, class will be starting any minute! This is your brother Steven Hill, saying goodbye. I love you all! Thank you for a wonderful life.'_

Tears landed on the pages of he journal as I finished the final line. I whipped away the tears, knowing I didn't have time to mope. I made my bed and placed the journal on it, I then grabbed the envelops from behind the dresser drawer. I placed those by the journal with the names facing up. I then went over to my dresser to get my favorite clothes for today. I was going to die in my favorite clothes, because I wasn't about to let myself die in some dirty rags when I could die in style.

I know wore a collared mint green shirt, black pants, a black and gold striped Adidas jacket, mint green sambas, and finally, a gray scarf. I smiled at my look in the mirror despite my dread. I then walked out the door and shut it behind me.

I made everyone breakfast before they could wake up, making sure to make Crèpes with cream cheese. I then prepared some sauce from sliced strawberries, raspberries and sugar boiled with water. I set out everything on the table and proceeded to wake everyone up by yelling up the stairs.

It didn't take long for them all to wake up and sit themselves at the table. There was an audible “Thank you” from all of them as they prepared their Crèpes. Breakfast was cheerful and delicious. While everyone went back up stairs to get ready to go, I cleaned up after everyone making sure not to leave a mess anywhere. Soon we were all out the door with Dad heading to work and the rest of us heading to school while being driven by Mom.

We were on our way to school when Mom asked, “So what's the occasion Steven?”

“What?” I replied innocently. I knew exactly what she was talking about. I didn't usually make Crèpes unless there was something important going on, because they were still rather difficult for me to make.

“Well you made Crèpes today.” She said, with a matter-of-factly tone. “You only make them when something important is happening. So what's the occasion Steven?”

“I just wanted to make you all something nice to show you all that I love you.” I replied, not lying as that was a partially true.

“Aww, aren't you just the sweetest!” She said, in her motherly tone that struck daggers to my heart. I heard snickering and didn't have to look at the twins to know that they were snickering at. We made it the rest of the way to school without incident. I was absent minded throughout the classes as I thought about my mother and how she would fare with losing another child. It hadn't been too long ago that she lost a set of twins, and the pain was still with her, I could always see it in her eyes.

The classes ended and I waited in the lobby of the school for the Twins. I didn't have to wait long until they arrived. Brianna spoke first, “Hey, Steven,” I looked at her to see her eyes filled with concern. “You've been a bit out of it today. Is something wrong?”

I smiled falsely at her saying, “No, I'm fine, I've just been deep in thought.”

Before she could reply, Matt jumped in, “Well in that case, lets go get some frozen yogurt!”

“Sure, why not, I'm all for it, Steven?” Brianna asked. I nodded unable to say anything. We left the building and headed down the sidewalk. It didn't take long for me to realize that we were almost to the building site.

“Looks like they're building more apartment buildings.” Matt stated Brianna and I agreed with him, me simply nodding. I felt I urge to throw up and stopped to catch my breath. “Steven? You okay?”

A loud sound from above caused me to look up. I registered it all in a instant, something was falling from above and it was headed straight for Matt and Brianna. I dashed forward, and pushed them back with all my might and stumbled forward. I didn't even get to look back as my back and lower stomach erupted in pain. I craned my head down to see my hands hanging limply and a metal beam inning me to the ground. I heard someone scream my name as I saw lights envelope my arms. Then everything went black.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

When I awoke, I could not move, but I could open my eyes. Above me were trees and a beautiful blue sky. I could smell pine and other unfamiliar smells. And I could hear a gentle breeze drift through the trees. It was peaceful.


	4. Insanity's Mystery Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now it starts!

“ _ **The real mystery isn't about where we are or even who we are, it's what we are going to do next.” Steven Hill**_

_Chapter 3_   
_ Insanity's Mystery  
_ _Part I_

Moment returned to my body fairly quickly as I laid on what I assumed to be grass. I pulled myself into seating position to find a peculiar sight. I was in a forest, but I was also right next to what could only be a large plain. The grass grew to about half the height of the majority of the trees around me in the plains, vastly impacting the amount of light entering the forest. It was then that I noticed something wrong with the picture I had in my head.

I could see legs coming from my body that did not match what I knew to be my legs. The legs were blue about halfway down and black the rest of the way. But it was not skin that I saw coating my legs, it was _fur_. I also noticed that they were bent oddly and that my feet had been replace with what I could only assume to be paws.

Under any other circumstance, I would have screamed, but seeing as I should be dead right now, I was feeling over all just thankful to be alive. Curiosity however had other plans as I began to explore my own body to find what I had become. I examined my arms, finding that they were also black near the hands and blue leading up to my body. My hands had also been replaced by paws, and there were strange metal spikes on the back of my wrists. I gave my new paws a flex, seeing if they worked like my hands. They worked a lot like my hands, but were slightly more restricted then my hands. It was only then that I realized I had a bit of a muzzle obscuring a tiny bit of my vision. I would need to a reflective surface in order to confirm what my head looked like.

I found that the blue fur on my legs were slightly fluffier then the black fur below it, creating the mirage of me wearing pants. My chest and stomach were covered by cream colored fur and I had a ring of black fur around my waist, separating my cream colored fur from my blue. Over all, though I was glad for the fluffy fur, otherwise I would have felt especially naked and exposed. I also had what looked to be black shoulder guards which I found were made out of dense skin. They was also this peculiar scar on my chest where no fur grew. I felt around on my back and found a place where no fur grew as well. It was on my lower back.

I thought back to when I had been impaled and remembered feeling pain in my _upper_ back and _lower_ stomach. This meant that if these scars were indeed from the metal beam, they were reversed for some reason.

I suddenly felt I wave of nausea pass over me making me turn my body in the event that I did actually puke. Luckily it was a false alarm and I did not puke in any way. But then I noticed something that I did not notice on my earlier inspection of my body. I had a tail. I then attempted to grab my tail which was blue in color. Surprisingly, I was able to grab it with one paw. Turns out these paws were more useful then they seemed. There wasn't anything really special about the tail, but it was fluffy and I've always kind of wanted a tail. I giggled despite myself and let go of the tail, it was time to try and stand.

I rose unsteadily to my paws, trying to stand on two legs. I was able to get up, but I felt horribly unbalanced. I then remembered reading somewhere once that animals used their tails for balance, so I tried moving the tail and found it to be as simple as moving my arm. I aligned the tail with my back, somehow knowing where it was. Instantly I felt my body's balance return.

I took a few tentative steps forward whilst my tail unconsciously followed my movement. I didn't lose balance. I then felt like trying another bodily activity so I bent my oddly shaped legs, finding it rather easy to do so, and jumped with all my might. I vastly misjudged my own strength and found myself about ten feet above tree level, so about twenty-five feet in the air. Rather then screaming like an idiot, I quickly looked for a way to land safely. It turns out I had no time to find out as I was quickly approaching the ground. I then felt instinct take over and landed on my lower paws in a relaxed form and found I felt little pain.

Curious, I looked at my legs, examining how they were shaped. Half down from my knees, my legs bent slightly, but I knew they could bend more if need be. Pass the point where my legs bent, my paws could be seen. It was almost like the bend was my ankle, but a lot farther back. And if that was true, my paws were really the balls of my feet. This was interesting as I knew that in order to dodge easier and move faster with less effort you had to be on the balls of your feet. Essentially, this meant I was “light on my feet”.

I also noted that my legs looked like they could handle much more pressure. They also acted a lot like springs and which would explain why I didn't feel much pain from the fall. The force from my fall was absorbed and dispersed throughout my lower body, causing much less damage then I would have had if I was still a human. I smiled, glad that my new body could handle falls better then my human body could. But I knew I could probably negate the force of almost any fall all together by rolling. I should learn to do that.

I then took a second looking around from my standing position. I wanted to find a reflective surface to find what my face looked like. I saw nothing, but got an idea. I jumped again, but this time used my time in the air to look for any pools of water. I saw one as I began my decent down, noticing that it was to my right. I landed in much the same way as last time and began my walk towards the pool of water.

My original assessment of the location was slightly off as I found my self to the side of the pool of water and not standing before it. I shrugged it off and headed for the pool of water, making a mental note of where I came from.

The pool of water was calm and clear, allowing me to see the bottom easily. But there was also enough light that I could see the reflections of the trees without much effort. I than got on my hand-paws and knees, placing my head above the water. I could see my reflection quite well thankfully.

What greeted me was a canine like face. I had muzzle of blue on the bottom, where I could see my mouth, and black on top. The fur was slightly thinner, but no skin was visible. The black fur on my face formed a sort of mask like look, going across my eyes and muzzle, and over the top of my head. My now canine ears stood tall and proud atop my head, being blue in color. I also had these large, black tear drop shaped appendages coming from the back of my head. There were two on either side of my head, leaving me with four strange appendages on the back of my head. But the most shocking of all were my eyes. My eyes which were usually a dull mint green color now _shined_ mint green. They were practically glowing!

I stepped back from position and stood up. My mind was filled with more questions the answers at this point. But I didn't let it get me, I could bode on them later when I felt more safe. These woods just felt... Wrong... I'm actually surprised I didn't feel it earlier.

I began to head back to the place where I woke up, deciding to head into the plains. When I arrived at where I had awoken, I realized that there was something there, something that my instinct was telling me to stay fer away from. I quickly hid behind a tree, hoping the figure did not notice me. I heard a noise of anger followed by the sound something dashing away. I looked around the tree seeing that whatever it was, was gone. Instead of heading through the area, I walked around it and headed straight into the plains, trying to get as far away from that place as possible.

I walked for a long while, making my way through the sea of tall grass, my feelings of unease slowly disappearing. I was beginning to feel tired, but more importantly, hungry. The Sun was almost down now, and I saw no sign of this plain ending. I contemplated jumping again, but I felt I shouldn't. And that was when I stumbled out of the sea of grass and into a area of low, grass that I was used to back at home.

In front of me stood a house, it was small, but it looked homey and inviting. I saw that I was facing the side of the house so I walked around until I was in front of a door. I could tell this was the front of the house as the door was so extravagant. It was a oval shaped door that had a frame which made it look like it had bunny ears and this strange head fluff. The sunlight was almost gone now so I decided it was now or never.

I walked up to the door and knocked in the best way I could. No answer came. I tried opening the door and found it to be unlocked. I pulled the door open to reveal a dreary room, despite the house's exterior. Inside there was dust covering just about everything. The place obviously hadn't been in use for a long while. I stepped out of the house and looked around once more.

I walked around to the back of the house to find the reason for the house's disuse. Two grave stones sat a little ways, with flowers that looked to be close to death. I walked up to the graves reading the short and simple engravings. One read “Mama” while the other read “Papa” and below each name there was a short inscription that was relatively the same on both stones.

“ _Sleep well Mama/Papa, I will miss you!”_

I bowed to the grave stones in the best way I could, showing my respect. Whoever these two were, they were obviously someone's parents. I then turned around and walked back to the house. It was probably rude of me to do this, but hopefully, I might get lucky and there will be some kind of food in there. I walked inside the house and ran my paw across a table, noticing that the dust wasn't too thick. That was good news.

There was a furnace in the back of the room, made out of stone, standing out in the wooden house. The table that I had run my paw across stood near the center of the room. There was a window on each wall, covered by a curtain. It looked like at one time the room had lots of potted plants as there where dead leaves around circles of dust. Pink wool was on the ground underneath the table, acting as a very dirty rug. There were also three mounds of dirty pink wool that looked incredibly comfortable to lay on.

In the corner of the room, to the right of the door upon entering, was a small stone well looking thing that held water. Next to the well was a large wicker basket that held what looked like to be old greens. I walked over to the wicker basket and peered inside it to find small blue ball like objects. I picked one up and realized that it looked a lot like an orange, but blue, and softer.

I sniffed it with my canine like nose, which felt a slight bit weird, and found that the odd fruit thing had a very pleasing smell. I then attempted to bite it and found, a bit to my surprise, that the odd fruit's shell was much like that of an peach. Soft, inside and out. It tasted very good and I felt slightly stronger for some reason. I felt a nagging thought in the back of my mind, but I could not tell what it was.

I began to eat the odd, but delicious fruit, glad that I had found food. Though considering the state of the house, I wondered if the fruit had gone bad at all. I ignored that thought and continued eating. Something made me feel like it was unsafe to go outside so I decided to sleep in the house. When I had had my fill of the strange fruit, I sat my self down on one of the pink wool mounds, sending a small cloud of dust into the air. The mound of wool was immensely comfortable so I decided I'd try and sleep on it for the night. In moments, I found myself drifting off. I closed my eyes, being blinded temporally by white light.

“Oh, are you leaving again Igglybuff?”

I snapped my eyes back open, I was about to apologize for being in this house, when I remembered the white light. So I instead examined the scene in front of me. I was still in the house, but it was bright and happy inside, practically full of life. There were two pink bunny like creatures that were almost as tall as me. Something about them seemed familiar though.

“Yup!” A sing song voice said from behind me, a swung around to see a ball of pinkness. It had big blue eyes full of wonder and joy. That's really all I could say about it as it really just looked like a pink fluffy ball with eyes.

“Well have fun then!” The voice was feminine and full of love, the voice of a mother. I turned back around to see who spoke, but I could not tell he difference between the two overgrown bunnies. Then I watched as the small ball of pinkness proceeded to the door, somehow opening it on its own.

As soon as the door opened, I felt sick and the entire vision deteriorated. I gasped for air as I tried to sit up only to find I was pinned to the ground.

“Stop struggling.” A voice commanded, causing a shiver to go up my spine. I tried to see who was pinning me, but found I couldn't actually _see_ anything. “You are Steven, correct?”

I felt fear pass through me as my captor said my name, but I replied regardless. “W-who are you?”

“Just answer the question!” The captor growled. I felt terrified and confused. What had I done to get pinned down? And how did they know my name when I didn't even look like myself? I was a weird canine creature!

“I- yes, my n-ame is Steven.” I answered, feeling mad at my self for being so afraid. I had to fight back at whoever was pinning me and get away.

“Good, then you can come with me.” At that moment I felt a the weight on me lift slightly, and I took that chance to push who ever was on me off and tried to remove what ever was covering my eyes only to find that there was nothing there. “Did you really think I would be so stupid as to put a cover over your eyes, Steven? I fed you a blinker seed while you were sleeping, you won't be getting away.”

I was blind!? This person was cruel enough to blind me!? I couldn't dwell on it too long as I knew that I had to do something before I get pinned again.

I charged in one direction blindly, and immediately impacted something. That something broke it seemed as I was able to continue charging. I heard my captor's voice swear as I ran, unable to see where I was going or what was happening. I felt grass all around me and I could tell I was in the plains outside of the house.

I dashed left and right as I ran, nearly tripping multiple times in a row. As I dashed, I felt less and less stable until my lower paws gave out and I crashed into the grass. As soon as I hit the ground I stopped moving, as I couldn't hear anything. I began to fear that I had also gone deaf when I heard the sound of someone moving through grass.

“You can't hide Steven, there is no point.” My captor's voice rang out sounding slightly muffled. He must be looking for me in his own time as he knew I couldn't get far without seeing. I slowed my breathing down, and tried to calm my rapidly beating heart. There had to be a way for me to get away!

It was then that my world of darkness was lit up by a mint green light. It took me a moment but I saw that the light was coming from directly in front of me. I tried moving my arms towards it, but it moved with me. The vision cleared a bit and I found the light to be coming from what looked like a arm with a for a hand and a strange spike on it's wrist. The arm connected to me, so it goes with out saying that I was slightly shocked that I was glowing.

“Why are you still hiding Steven? That blinker seed isn't going to wearing off anytime soon!” My captor's voice rang out once again, ending my thoughts. And then everything changed from my perspective, the world lit up in a gentle blue, allowing me to see every piece of grass around me. It was as if the world itself suddenly came to life.

“Oh come now, Steven. Do you really think you can run away from what you've done?” What I've done? I haven't done anything wrong!

I turned my head to face the sound of my captor's voice and found something that truly baffled me. In front of me was the glowing blue of the grass, but I could make out a glowing purple figure moving through it in my direction. I could see the figure through the grass itself!

My vision began to flicker, and I panicked and found myself blind again. I calmed myself back down and tried to focus, realizing that I could get my sight back if I could focus. The glowing grass came back into view and I saw that the glowing purple figure was much closer then before. I had to do something!

I then began to slowly sneak through the grass, trying to be as quiet as possible. The figure kept approaching were I was, leaving me right to the side of his current path. I could try to attack him from my vantage point, but I didn't really know what I could do to him. I was still getting used to this body and it was a miracle that I was able to even do _anything_ while blind. I then looked at the spikes on my wrists and shuddered. I guess I will have to use _those._

I stayed silent as my captor got closer and closer allowing me to make out his shape. I nearly gasped as I realized what my captor looked like. My captor looked to be a raptor dinosaur, but had strange leafy protrusions from his elbows and the back of his head. That was what was stalking me? That thing?

I felt fear grip me, taking my vision away as I found myself unable to move when he slowly walked past me. “I know your here, Steven!” He yelled, his voice hurting my ears from his proximity. I didn't make a noise, all thoughts of attacking him had vanished from my head as did my vision of everything. I wanted to just curl up in my bed at home, and feel safe again. I wanted to see my brother and sister, I wanted to be hugged by my mother, and her to tell me it's alright. But it's not alright, and I knew that. I was supposed to be dead. But for some reason I was here, in some strange limbo.

I pulled myself from my thoughts and realized my vision had returned, but the grass no longer glowed. I looked to see that my captor was nowhere in sight. In all my thoughts and fear, I hadn't realized that my captor had gone. I didn't relax, I cried. I felt lost, and felt a crushing sadness as my final moments with Matt and Briana flashed through my head. All the emotion that my mind had locked away finally came crushing down on me. I was alone now, completely and utterly alone, and I knew it.

The captor had vanished, I had been taken from my family, and I had been turned into some kind of freak. I didn't want to do anything anymore. So I gave up, and let the darkness of the night take me, leaving my consciousness behind, hoping this was all just a nightmare.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

When I came to, I felt warmth. I opened my eyes, finding giant blades of yellow grass obscuring my vision. I turned, positioning myself so I was facing skyward. The reason for my warmth was easily identified. The sun was seeping through the grass and touching me with it's warmth. I lay there, basking in the sun's mid-morning light not having a care in the world. That is, until the events of last night entered my mind.

I slowly rose, standing so that my head was just barely over the grass's level. I looked around finding no one but a vast sea of yellow grass and blue sky. I had a choice to make now, it wasn't too hard of a choice, but it would make me think, something I didn't want to do. I focused on the distance trying to find which way to go, finding no diffrence I sighed. I couldn't stay here. I had to move, I had to find my family, to find out why I am this way, and why a strange creature was hunting me.

So I choose a direction, and walked. Hoping, just hoping...

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*


	5. Insanity's Mystery Part II

“ _ **Separating what's real from what's not, is a difficult thing. If not for our belief that where we are is real, then we would have gone mad long ago. Take care to not put to much thought into it, lest you be destroyed by your own mind.” Steven Hill**_

_Chapter 4_   
_ Insanity's Mystery  
_ _Part II_

Five days had passed now, with me only finding the occasional tree with berries to eat from and the common stream to drink from. I had left the savanna four days ago. My mind yearned for contact with someone, to talk aloud and have a reply. But I kept my mouth shut, as the the strange creature I saw before made me believe I was being watch be some unsavory things. Though, the berries, were at least delicious!

I took a look at the sky through the trees and was temporarily blinded by the sun. I rubbed my eyes to get the spots out of them when heard quiet whispering. I located the direction of the source and carefully crept in the direction of it. Behind some undergrowth and trees which I hid behind were two lion like creatures.

There were both a light blue and black, but one seemed to be only a kit. It was then that I recognized what I was looking at and felt something other then what I'd been feeling for the entirety of my time here. Joy. And with that, a huge influx of memories bombarded me. I remembered the many species of Pokémon, the adventures I had with a Shinx named Lightning, the heartache I felt when I said goodbye to him the first time and then the final goodbye before I woke up on my bed at home. And the two creatures in front of me, were a Luxray and a Shinx.

“Lightning...” I stopped myself from greeting them after hearing that. It was a quiet female voice.

“Why Mom?” I heard from the all to familiar voice of the friend I had believed to be a figment of my imagination.

“I don't know, darling, I don't know...” Came the caring voice of the one I now identified as Lightning's mother.

It was then that I finally worked up the courage to greet them. After all, it was better that I greet them then getting spotted by Lightning’s mother, who I knew had X-Ray vision due to her species. I walked towards them only be surprised when they didn't even bother looking up as I approached.

“Hello?” I asked wondering why they didn't look up as I approached, I wasn't necessarily quiet.

It was quiet as only the sound of quiet sobbing filled the air. They never looked at me, I got worried at that point, why wouldn't they notice me? I made some noise and waved my arms in the air in an attempt to get them to notice. No reaction.

“H-hello?” I whimpered, worried for obvious reasons.

“Let's go honey, it's getting late after all...” Lightning's mother said, nudging him to a standing position.

“But it's noon...” I quietly stated, in a final attempt to get them to notice me. They heeded me not and walked right passed me, leaving me standing there with a deep hole in my heart. I didn't even go after them, I had no will to even try. But a cry from behind me broke me from my feelings.

I quickly rushed over the way the two had walked without a thought and found them again, but this time with another Luxray. The one I knew to be Lightning's mother stood over him protectively as he cowered with his paws over his head. She had a three bloody claw mark across her face and was glaring at the Luxray in front of her with a kind of sadness.

“Stop protecting him!” A male voice rang through the air, coming from the new Luxray. “You know as well as I do what the legend says!”

“Legends can be wrong.” Lightning's Mother growled, seeming to be on the verge of tears. “So you are not taking him from me!”

“Not this one, this one came from Acreus himself, not some measly psychic prophet...” He said, his composer seeming to falter. That was when his tears started. “He _has_ to die.”

“ _No_.” I was surprised when I heard the mother say the same thing as me.

“Fine.” He said, the tears falling freely now his visage being one of pain and cold, hard determination. “I may love you, but I can't let our son destroy everything!”

Before he could charge I went to punch him in the face only to pass right through him, along with myself. I put myself into a roll to avoid serious injury and looked behind me to see a ferocious battle.

The two mates tumbled and threw each other while the male used every chance he got to try and end Lightning's life. I watched helplessly as they _tore_ each other apart. Lightning kept crying, to afraid to move. The ground was now stained with blood and other _things_. Then they both collapsed, in a pool of their own blood, not longer able to move, but still alive.

“I g-guess, we w-w-won't... h-h-have to worry... about him... a-after a-all...” The male panted, smiling ruefully despite his torn up face. “'Cause now we're... we're both going to die... Goodbye my love...”

The mother said nothing, for she was already lost. And soon the male was gone too, leaving lightning crying in a cowering heap. I walked over to him despite earlier inability to interact with him. I knelt next to him, trying hard not to look at the carnage of the fight, for fear of puking.

I did what came naturally and put a paw on his head, not even questioning it when I actually touched his head. “Hey, everything’s going to be alright, have hope.” I whispered not even truly believing my own words. Just saying everything came to mind when I thought of the lightning I knew. “You can't give up, alright? Not even in the bleakest of circumstances, or when it seems the world is against you. Because you can find peace in knowing that _I_ will always be your friend. So have courage, stand up, and never lose your kindness. Okay?”

I saw him look at me, with tear filled eyes and whisper, “Okay.” Before he faded from existence, as if he was never there. I looked to my right and saw to very old skeletons imbedded in the ground. It was hard to tell what they originally were as most of the skeletons had deteriorated. I stood up and looked around to find that the trees around me were dead, not a leaf grew on them and were greyish color. This place was dead, and it has been for a long time.

I knew what had just taken place, but that didn't change the fact that I currently could feel nothing. I left without any thought, my mind empty of everything. I continued my walk, leaving behind that cursed area.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

It wasn't until the sun was nearly down and the darkness had nearly consumed the forest whole that I began to reflect on the events that took place earlier. I realized I was seeing the past, but I don't get why I was able to interact with it or why I watched it in real time. All the other times this happened, I was frozen in place for a second or more.

“Ugh... This is hurting my head, I should just sleep and I think about this tomorrow.” I said to myself feeling the need to escape the ever present silence. But before I could find a good place to rest for the night, a floating orb of light appeared in front of me.

I stared at the orb, and put my paw out to it, but stopped before touching it. I didn't know what this thing was, why in the heck would just up and touch it!? I brought my paw back before I noticed a obvious change in my paw. The paw that had been about to touch it was now a human hand, but was quickly turning back. I looked up from my hand, now paw, and stared hard at the light. After a brief internal struggle, I decided to touch it. Maybe I could become human again?

The moment my paw touched the light, I felt... Something, surge through me, making me shudder. And then the light disappeared along with all the light in the forest, leaving me in complete and total darkness. It lasted only a moment as lights light up a path for me. But The lights did not illuminate trees anymore. In every direction was darkness, including the path that was glowing in front of me.

I followed the lights, but as I walked, the lights behind me disappeared and new ones appeared in front of me. I followed wordlessly, being as silent as I had been on much of the time I've been in this strange world. On and on I walked through the darkness, never staying from the path. Time seemed irreverent, fatigue was nonexistent, hunger, emotion, thirst, thought, the sense of smell, of hearing, and of touch. All of it was gone. Was I dead?

A door appeared in front of me. The door was unfamiliar, but at the same time, familiar. It seemed to not have a color, instead, it seemed to be what ever color I wanted. Blue, red, yellow, brown, white, green. I opened the door and began walking once again. The lights had gone and there seemed to be figure approaching me from afar. I walked towards that figure.

I suppose I realized it when I first saw the figure, but as I stood in front of the figure, looking at their face and their clothing, seeing perfectly as if the world was not completely devoid of light. I was standing in front of myself. But they were also not me. We were not mirror images of each other, but instead, two different but similar individuals. Both were human.

“Hello, Steven.” His voice was kind, but also, strong. (Strength)

“H-hi.” My voice was small, cowardly, one full of fear. (Instability)

“Oh look, more idiots.” Said a voice to my right. I already knew who it was, so I didn't look at another version of myself. His voice seemed to be bored, but held a bit of sinister intention. (Malevolence)

“Takes one to know one.” Another said to my left. His was light, seeming to be full of laughter, but also hid a sadness. (Levity)

“'Why are we here?' You ask, noticing another you.” Another narrated from behind, seeming to be uncaring, but full of so many different emotion that it was suppressing. (Mask)

“Seems we're all here.” Strength said. “Now, how shall we get ourselves back in one piece?”

“We could do a dance and fuse together.” Levity suggested, smirking at the thought.

“Fool, don't make such idiotic comments.” Malevolence replied with a sneer.

“'No idea' you reply, ignoring the two arguing idiots.” (“Hey!”) Mask said, narrating his own reply and feelings.

“W-we c-could just f-focus o-on merging?” I suggest, wondering if I'm really me.

“'Why are were we split in the first place?' you ask, hoping to become whole again while also finding answers.” Mask asks, being the only one to question this, winking into the darkness.

“Can you stop trying to break the nonexistent forth wall Mask?” Malevolence says, tired of Mask thinking that they were always being watched. “This is real life, not some movie or book. If it was, then we wouldn't have to worry about dying!”

“Aww, is little Malevolence feeling butt-hurt?” Levity said, earning a glare from said individual.

“To answer your question, Mask, we split apart on two separate occasions. After the events of being thrust out of the Pokémon world and being placed back in our bed as if nothing happened, Malevolence and Mask were split from us, then coming here again when we thought we had been killed, Levity and I were, split leaving you, Insecurity, to explore alone. These events also caused you to lose memories making it more and more hard to remember what is important.” Strength answered, ignoring the other three and speaking instead to me. I was “Insecurity” for some reason.

“Um... How do we um, fuse back together?” I queried. This place was to crazy for me to comprehend so I just gave up doing so.

“Like this!” Strength answered, and with a snap of his fingers everything went white.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

Groaning, I rose to my feet waiting for my vision to return to me. Linking a few times, as my vision returned, I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. Before me stood a giant white cathedral. All around, in every other direction, I could see rubble and trees. This place was old. _Very old_.

I didn't feel the same scared feeling as before, rather, I felt empowered. I felt like I could take on anything, and huge spooky cathedrals weren't going to stop me! I giggled in spite of myself and walked to the doors leading in. I guess it was time to explore!

I stopped before opening the doors as felt a shiver travel down my spine. I would have shrugged it off like normal, but this one was different. I could feel as if what ever was in this cathedral would change me forever. I felt terrified.

And then that moment was gone and I felt renewed vigor to explore, but now I felt cautious. Throwing open the front doors, I walked in, making sure there was nothing to hurt me. But I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

Skeletons, dozens of them. Each one seemed to be of a different Pokémon. These Pokémon had died fighting each other, that much was obvious by their positions. I certain darkness permeated the air, leaving me shivering in fear. I continued walking, going past the skeletons, careful not to touch any of them. I then found myself at the back of the room, facing a grave? There were words carved into it:

_The End of All_

_When a human comes to this world, they way stop Time from collapsing with a Pokémon from here. But they will die. They will be erased, and then they will come back. When they return the world's ending will have begun. Space and Time will collapse. God will die. The world will die. One by one they will fall until he alone, stands above them all. The ones with the gentle green souls are the keys._

There was more, but that was all I could make out. The rest had faded with the ages. And then came my worst fear. The skeletons began moving, breaking apart from each other as they swirled around the room until they formed a massive, thing.

“YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE ALIVE HUMAN!” Roared the monstrosity before me with many voices like a Spiritomb.

I stepped away from it feeling fear and anger course through me. I hadn't done anything wrong! I didn't get to think much more though as the world disappeared around me until I was falling into nothingness. I fell and fell, seeing only darkness. I reflected briefly on all that had happened to me since coming here. The arrival to this world, the savanna, the attack, the forest, the blackout, and the cathedral. Everything seemed so meaningless and maybe... it was. Maybe... I was just supposed to die.

I began laughing, a horrible laughter that grated on the ears. It was so funny! I had kept moving on, trying so hard to live. But what was the point? I was a dead thing, brought back to life for what? To kill? To die?

Then, all at once, everything stopped. My laughter ceased, my fall stopped, my emotions, my insanity, all gone. It was as if Time had frozen, and yet, was there even Time in this darkness? And then a voice, like a message sent from heaven, cut through the darkness. It was a voice I recognized. A voice I thought I would never hear again.

“Steven! Don't give up! Don't you dare ever give up! You promised you wouldn't!”

I found myself standing before the same skeletal monstrosity as before, but I was no longer afraid. I would win, and I would find _him._ I would not lose my mind. I had a mission, a goal now. I was going to find _Lightning_.

Like a dam breaking, a flood of memories and experiences flooded my mind. I remembered everything now and I wasn't going to let this _beast_ take it from me!

I pulled my arms to my side, feeling power charge between my paws. Memories of Lightning, of Grovyle, of the guild shot through my head. The power grew stronger and the beast grew terrified. It would _not_ escape.

“ **I WILL NOT GIVE UP!”** I screamed and released the energy in it's direction. The mint green orb that had been launched, lasted only a second in the air, before it collided with the monstrosity. The area grayed, Time stopped, and I could feel the bliss that radiated off the monstrosity. And then, everything went white.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*<>*

_ I stood in room, no a  **universe,** with orbs of light raining from the seemingly empty sky. I didn't need to look to tell that was human again, I could already feel it. Aside from the orbs, the world was black with emptiness. I seemed to be standing on nothing and yet I was standing on something. _

_ In front of me, stood a lone figure. They look like me. They  **are** me. _

“ _Who are you?” It wasn't a question, it was a demand, spoken from my lips. The other me smiled a smile that would run most's blood cold._

“ _Me? I'm Steven, the end of everything.” **It** spoke, that creepy smile playing on it's lips. I was unfazed._

“ _Really?” I answered with mock astonishment. “I thought you were a piece of trash.” I stopped and stared straight into **its** eyes. “But it appears I was way off, your not even **worthy** of trash anymore, your below it.”_

_**It** began to laugh, and I laughed with it. Wasn't just hilarious? To disgusting creatures talking to each other without killing? _

_It stopped and looked down, seeming sad. “I guess, we messed up, huh? We were suppose to save everything, not destroy it all. We really are worse then trash.” No tears fell, there were none left._

“ _Then I guess, we'll just rot.” I replied sitting down, accepting my fate. “Happy ending never did exist right?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the Cliffhanger!


End file.
